Cristina Perez - Five Minute Recess

Politics has always been personal. That’s an undisputable fact. Public figures like politicians, athletes and actors are gaining more star power than ever in history, courtesy of socially driven technology, a very hands-on, around-the-clock media and a public with an unquenchable thirst for the intimate life details behind the headlines. What has resulted is possibly the most public and thoroughly dissected presidential election in our country’s history.

Gov. Sarah Palin

Cable news viewers have come to expect that when news breaks, they will get the essentials that they “need to know.” What often comes with that is a sordid mess of personal information that even the most experienced pundits have trouble selling as a legitimate news story.

As a news viewer and voter, at what point does “politics as usual” become tabloid journalism? When do the Sarah Palin headlines start sounding a lot like Paris Hilton ones?

Look at the recent breaking news headlines about the GOP’s vice presidential candidate. Shortly after Gov. Palin’s candidacy was announced, the media gleefully came forth with another surprising announcement: Palin’s 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Reaction from running mate John McCain, the man who had thrust her into the spotlight in the first place, is that he knew about it all along and quickly pronounced this a “private family matter.” On the Democrats’ side, Sen. Barack Obama agreed: Hands off, folks, family matters are off-limits.

In January 2006, following Hollywood’s prestigious Golden Globe Awards, Best Actor Nominee Heath Ledger was seen on video doing cocaine and other drugs. The actor, who died earlier this year from an accidental prescription drug overdose, was not alone at the time.

Two distinctly separate types of journalists kept him company in the private hotel room. The first, an anonymous reporter from People magazine, who apparently had an interview scheduled with the actor. The second, a pair of photographers from Splash News, a paparazzi agency.

In a recent lawsuit, the “Jane Doe” reporter accuses the paparazzi duo of supplying Ledger’s drugs and secretly filming him–and also her. People Magazine Jane’s motives behind the lawsuit seemed a little fuzzy though. Was she standing up for the privacy rights and preserving the integrity of Ledger? Or was the lawsuit more self-serving? Jane’s lawsuit stated that her appearance on the video tape has “damaged her ability to work.”

Jane Doe’s attorney seemed to settle the motive argument in his outburst during this week’s hearing on the case.